The Corrigan Story
Our story is one of family
Frank “The Chief” Corrigan relocated to Dearborn, Michigan, in 1923, persuaded by the $5 daily wage given by Ford Motor Company. At Ford, Frank worked 3rd shift on the Ford farms carrying out a range of varying jobs – sometimes even chauffeuring Henry Ford himself. The Chief was driven, and in the daytime when he was not working at Ford he operated an ice delivery service with his brother. When the Great Depression hit, Frank drove his trucks to help families forced from their houses move their belongings.
And thus, Corrigan Moving Systems was born.
World War II brought about a new challenge to Frank and Corrigan Moving on account of the challenge employing movers while the war was going on. Frank’s oldest son, Paul Corrigan, was called back from the Air Force in 1945 to assist the family and the family company. Paul had always dreamed of going to a university. Instead, he assumed management of the company, going through what he called the “school of hard knocks”.
Paul proved to be a respected leader, and through his direction Corrigan began to grow. In 1949, Corrigan joined United Van Lines because the idea of partnering with an agency-owned van line attracted Paul. The cooperative structure provides agents, like Corrigan, a voice in the strategy of the van line.
Throughout the following forty years, the Corrigan family expanded in parallel with the company. Paul married Kathleen O’Hehir in 1954 and hand-in-hand they brought up six kids. At some point growing up all six children worked at Corrigan - either as a mover or in the office.
In 1969 Corrigan started its second location in Ann Arbor, Michigan and worked as a two-office company for the following 15 years. Starting in 1984, it began a quick eight-year growth and investment phase. New warehouses were started in Auburn Hills, Toledo, Flint, Bay City and Grand Rapids. In 1987, Corrigan bought a new office in Farmington Hills and transferred their headquarters from the Dearborn office.
In 1995, Paul’s sons were promoted to the top positions at the moving company.
Corrigan Moving has always embraced expansion possibilities that help increase its quality and service reach. Two top-tier possibilities became available to David Corrigan, and so, in 2003, a location was added in Rochester, New York. Then a Chicago, Illinois location came in 2006. These were the first Corrigan locations in each of these states. Additional expansion brought a warehouse in Cleveland, Ohio; and in 2018, a branch was added in Buffalo, New York. The Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania location was added in 2022.
As Corrigan has grown, it has also advanced its services. A long way from hauling ice, Corrigan now offers a broad range of services including household goods relocation, commercial and office relocations, record storage, systems furniture assembly and disassembly, logistics, and international freight forwarding.
Today, the Corrigan team continues to uphold Frank’s original code of ethics. And thanks to that, we have advanced into the most reputable moving company nationwide.
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